Single Publication

  Contact Information:  Phone:  406-426-9612 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.  Email: 2022.blodgettlake@firenet.gov

Start Date: 8/29/2022                   Cause: Lightning                         Total Personnel: 175                         Engines: 1

Helicopters: 1                                  Completed: 51%                          Heavy Equipment: 9                         Crews: 3

Fire Name Acreage (estimated)

Blodgett Lake        2307 acres

Mill Lake                   915 acres 

Big Creek                  157 acres

Bear Creek                235 acres

Kootenai Creek:          1 acres

Summary:    

Today is the last shift for the Northern Rockies Team 1. Seth Carbonari’s Type III Incident Management team will take command of the incident tomorrow, Friday, September 23, 2022. 

Work is nearing completion along the shaded fuel break east of the fire, where firefighters are working on containment lines west of the Bitterroot Valley. The fuel breaks are intended to provide a high probability of success for fire suppression should fire progress downslope on this or future fires. Firefighters encourage the public to be cautious of extra fire traffic in the Mill Creek area.   

Rain will remain through today and may last most of the night. A half inch to a little over an inch of rain is expected from this system. Very little fire spread has occurred due to the recent rainfall and shorter burn windows. As warm and dry weather returns, smoke may become visible in the coming week.  

Firefighters have completed widening buffers on road #1325 using wood chippers to clear brush in tight turns and other vulnerable locations. Fire resources will again be stopping traffic at the intersection of FS-737 and FS-1325 to help complete the remaining work.   

Structure protection personnel scouted structures adjacent to US Forest Service lands east of Big Creek, Bear Lake, Mill Lake, and Blodgett Lake Fires. Fire Managers and Structure Protection Specialists met with Bitterroot Valley Volunteer Fire Departments to review a Coordinated Response Plan for use on this or future Wildland fires. More information on the Coordinated Response Plan can be seen in a short video on the Discover Bitterroot National Forest Facebook page.  

The Forest has implemented trail closures across the fire area. Refer to the Bitterroot National Forest website for details https://www.fs.usda.gov/bitterroot   

Weather:   

Rain will occur throughout the day and much of the night. A half-inch to an inch of rain is expected. Winds will be from the west/southwest at seven mph, with gusts up to 20 mph in the valleys. Maximum temperatures will reach into the lower 60s.

InciWeb: Mill Lake Fire: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8392/

Bitterroot National Forest Website:  https://www.fs.usda.gov/bitterroot

Air Quality: https://fire.airnow.gov/